The ramblings of Author J.G. Gatewood

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The End is Near (Part 1)

The End is Near

The last half mile of the walk had been uneventful. He started to regret bringing Roger with him as everything had been so easy. Although they couldn’t see it in the limited light, Mike knew the hangar sat only a couple hundred feet further.

They rounded a corner and put the light on the hangar doors. Curiously, Mike noticed the doors were closed, which wasn’t the way he had left them. He wished there were windows in the door so he could see what was going on inside, but alas there wasn’t.

“It will take both of us to move these doors. Be ready, anything could be lurking inside.” He motioned for him to take the left door and he applied all of his weight and force on the right. The doors slowly slid open, and they kept pushing with all of their might until they opened wide enough for them to walk through. They could hear clamoring on the other side. Mike brought his flashlight up and focused it inside. Three of the creatures were bearing down on them. Roger could see them in detail for the first time. They had large beady black eyes, large mouths that displayed teeth that could cut through bone, and where there should have been hands they had large razor sharp claws. A green liquid dripped from their fangs.

Mike reached for his gun and began firing. They were quick, damn quick, which made it difficult for him to aim. At this point they would be sitting ducks. He ordered Roger to back up. “Get back and begin firing when they try to breach the doors.” He yelled. Mike kept firing while Roger backed up and got into position.

Roger backed up and gave himself room to shoot. He started taking shots as the creatures tried to squeeze through the door. He aimed for the head and was amazed when he had to put multiple shots into the first creature before it fell to the ground, screaming in agony. He noticed Mike digging in the duffle bag as he ran back to join him. Three of the creatures were now at the door, fighting with one another as they tried to make their way through.

Mike reached Roger’s side and he had a glass bottle in his hand with a rag sticking out the top. “Keep firing. Do NOT let them through!” He struck a match on the concrete floor and lit the rag in the bottle. The rag must have been soaked in a flammable material because it immediately went up in a flash of flame.

With the rag lit, Mike threw the glass bottle at the creatures. It collided on the steel doors and shattered, sending flaming liquid at the creatures. They screamed in agony as they ran and tried to put it out, taking them back into the hangar and out sight.

Mike walked back toward the doors with his gun drawn and flashlight aimed in front of him. He heard the cries of the creatures die down and stop all together. He waited by the doors and listened. After a few moments of silence he aimed the flashlight inside the hangar; not that he could see much in the limited light the flashlight provided. Still nothing moved from what he could see or hear, so he walked inside motioning Roger to join him.

Roger looked amazed when he walked through the doors. Again he couldn’t see much, but he could tell by the lack of visible walls in the beam of light that the room was rather large. It’s not that it’s large, it’s enormous, he thought. This had to be the largest room he had ever seen.

Mike turned back and looked at him. “Follow me, and stay close.” He ordered him. He made his way rather easily though the dark and Roger stayed on his heels. They rounded the corner of what Roger assumed was another room in the building and were greeted by a door with an electrical panel to the left. Mike hit a series of buttons, and the pad illuminated. Roger looked surprised to see the pad had power; he thought the whole city was dark. After a few more buttons, the door hissed and slowly lowered to the ground creating a ramp into the room. The light from inside the room blinding Roger who had to shield his eyes.

Once their eyes adjusted, Mike walked inside, turning the corners with his gun first. Roger quickly followed him. The room looked like nothing he had ever seen before; almost alien. The walls weren’t all metal. Parts of the interior even looked organic, as if it were alive. It was all rather unsettling.

Mike waited and listened, before turning to Roger. “Well, we made it inside. I’ll cover our front, you watch our rear. I am not sure what we might encounter, so stay close and only shoot when you have a clear shot. We don’t have much ammunition left.” Mike grabbed another Molotov cocktail and carried it in his left hand, before leading the way.

Roger started to relax after ten minutes of complete silence, except for the clamor of their feet on the metal floor. He decided what he thought was a room, was in fact a ship. A ship that was not human made. At least it did not resemble anything he was accustomed to.

Mike led the way down a staircase and they went down one level. He led them through corridor after corridor, before stopping at a set of doors. “This is the riskiest part of what we have to do.” He entered a code into the door and led the way after it slid open.